Page 13 of Mountain Security

“… the files were accessed remotely. But there’s something else. This morning I came in early to do a physical check of your equipment, and I found this.”

He moved the keyboard to reveal a slim cable linking it to Pierre’s computer. At first, she couldn’t figure out what he was pointing at. Then she saw it.

What—

“That’s a keylogger. There’s another one just like it outside, attached to Yvette’s computer.”

“A keylogger?”

“It’s a device that records every keystroke made by a user on a specific computer,” Alex explained patiently. “It’s all saved here. Like a pen drive.”

Yvette’s mouth hung open.

“I didn’t realize that’s how it worked.”

“It doesn’t have to be. There are also computer programs to do the same thing. But this is a physical keylogger.”

“That means …”

“It means whoever put it there needs to come back to retrieve it.”

“So we can catch him. Or her,” she added quickly.

Alex nodded.

Pierre’s phone rang. He flipped it over without answering, which was odd, because Pierre was usually happy to answer the phone with her there. Maybe something about Alex’s presence was making him nervous. “I’ll leave you two to sort it out,” he finally said, effectively ending the meeting. “I need to take this call.”

Yvette stood by, open-mouthed. Looking only slightly less bewildered, Alex stood by the door, waiting for her to walk out before following her.

In her hand, she still clutched her coffee. She took another sip. It’d cooled down and tasted even more bitter.

Something’s wrong with Pierre.

She promised herself she’d ask him about it later, as soon as she figured out what to do about those little devices.

And what to tell the team.

She realized she couldn’t go out there with Alex until she had a story in place. She grabbed Alex by the arm—an arm that was thick and strong beneath today’s dark blue shirt—and pushed him into the closest meeting room.

She closed the door quickly, effectively locking them in the small, windowless room.

“Hey,” Alex said, smiling widely. “If you wanted some alone time, we could—“

Yvette’s eyebrow went up.

He ran a hand through his light-colored hair, looking chagrined. “Sorry. I was just kidding.”

“Tell me more about this little device.”

“It’s exactly what it looks like. A physical device that tracks key strokes. Whoever put it there will need to physically recover it, then plug it into another computer in order to retrieve the information.”

“So as long as the device is there, that means the information hasn’t left the building?”

“That is correct. Usually, keyloggers are used to gain access to passwords and other confidential information. You need to think of what kind of passwords you and the mayor are using on a daily basis, and who might want access to them.”

Yvette shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “I really don’t know. None of this makes any sense. The mayor grew up in Chamonix. Everybody knows him. I’ve lived here for years, and nothing like this has ever—“

“Okay. Relax. We’re going to figure this out. The best thing we can do right now is set a trap for when they come to pick up the keyloggers.”

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